Slater Wants to Keep Hall of Fame Waiting

U nconventional wisdom of the day. . .

Jackie Slater: Used to be that only kickers and backup quarterbacks played into their 40s. Now Slater says he wants to give it a go, planning to return for a 19th season in 1994, and who are the Rams to tell him no? The Rams need Slater a good deal more than the other way around, unless the Rams are willing to place next year’s quarterback (Jeff George? Scott Mitchell? Heath Shuler?) in the hands of Darryl Ashmore, Keith Loneker, Jeff Pahukoa and Kevin Robbins. And how many other future Hall of Famers do you see on this Ram roster?

Jerome Bettis: I knew you’d say that. Well, let’s all get a grip, shall we--even if Bettis’ 212-yard bruise-a-thon in New Orleans does rank as the most inspirational Ram moment of the decade. It’s still very early, and a tailback’s knees can be fickle, and one game does not a legend make. Et cetera, et cetera. Still, there’s no denying it: Bettis has that franchise-player look, and, playing for a coach named Ground Chuck, there’s no telling how far he can push the odometer. Or if the Rams will ever need to pass again. Irv Eatman says Bettis “runs like a guy who’s about to be cut. Guys with his talent who play that way are guys you talk about 40 years after they retire.”

Russell White: Not a good year to be the second tailback drafted by the Rams.

T.J. Rubley: He throws one hell of a pitchout, don’t you think? As for the forward pass, well, his five completions for 47 yards against the Saints were the lowest complete-game totals by a Ram quarterback since the Dieter Brock era. Bottom line, though: Rubley is 1-0 against New Orleans and, in four starts and two relief appearances, responsible for half the team’s victories this season. Jim Everett needed nine starts to win the other two--and is 0-7 against New Orleans since 1989.

Heath Shuler: Every Ram silver lining has its black cloud, and Sunday’s upset of the Saints probably cost the Rams a shot at the best quarterback in the draft, assuming Shuler of Tennessee makes himself eligible, and that conclusion seems foregone. Cincinnati (1-12), New England (2-11) and Washington (3-10) all have worse records than the Rams, with Indianapolis, Tampa Bay and Phoenix drawing even at 4-9. And the Rams close the season with the soft part of their schedule: Cincinnati, Cleveland and Chicago--all winnable games. The situation appears bleak.

Jeff George: If the Rams can’t draft one, they will have have to find a quarterback somewhere, and George is a name you keep hearing. Great. George is booed at home games, has lost the confidence of his teammates and hasn’t produced a touchdown drive in 17 quarters. He’d be a real departure for the Rams.

Steve DeBerg: Why not? He’s played everywhere else. He threw for 344 yards the other night against Pittsburgh. He’s from Anaheim. And he’ll be 40 next year. Give Slater somebody to talk to on team flights.

Jeff Hostetler: What if the other Los Angeles team had signed him last winter? The Raiders are 8-5 with Hostetler, playing in a tougher division, with no running game. Where would the Rams be with Bettis and a veteran quarterback who can run and throw deep and inspire his teammates, all at the same time? You get what you don’t pay for.

New Orleans Saints: You could have choked a horse, or a one-time 5-0 playoff-bound team, with the monstrous black headline that bled across the top of Monday’s Times-Picayune sports section. It read, simply: TOAST . The Saints, 2-6 in their last eight games, appear to be just that, and so could Coach Jim Mora, who has made a career out of these second-half fadeouts. His offensive game plan Sunday--”Derek Brown is hurt, and the Rams have no cornerbacks, so let’s run the ball up the middle”--had to have been the most bizarre of this NFL season. Looking on the bright side, Saints fans probably don’t have to worry about another loss in the first round of the playoffs.

Atlanta Falcons: Guess who’s 6-7 and in the wild-card hunt? The Falcons opened 0-4, but two things turned their season around on Oct. 14. One, that was the night Deion Sanders returned. And, two, that was the night the Rams came to town.

Jacksonville Jaguars: Predominant uniform colors will be silver, teal and black. Just like Charlotte’s. Mascot is a ferocious jungle cat. Just like Charlotte’s. It’s this kind of imagination that has made the NFL what it is today.

Dennis Hopper: His wired, edgy commercial spots for Nike have many couch potatoes freaked out--”Gee, Marge, he seemed kinda normal in ‘Hoosiers’ “--but I’ll take them any time over CBS’s highly obnoxious “We’re big fans!” husband and wife. (Talk about sick and twisted.) Nike sells athletic shoes made of black leather and white vinyl. Presumably, blue velvet is next.

Bob Knight: I’ll take Hopper’s “Hoosiers” over this one, too.

Spike Owen: Can hardly wait for the Freeway Series pregame introductions. “Starting at second base for the Dodgers, Delino DeShields. And at second base for the Angels, . . . “

Mike Hartley: The Angels signed him early in the off-season, then sold him to a Japanese League team, then listed him on their double-A reserve list for this week’s Rule 5 draft, in which Hartley was selected by the Seattle Mariners. In other words, Seattle drafted a player the Angels didn’t have, causing one whale of a mess at the winter meetings. Why can’t Angels be this much fun in July and August?

Schea Cotton: You lose a championship football game, 56-3, your entire student body’s in a funk, heads hung so low their chins are dragging on the sidewalk. What’s a high school athletic department to do? Simple. You wait a few days, then announce that Cotton, a 6-5, 215-pound freshman forward--already one of the top basketball prospects in the country--is transferring in from Bellflower St. John Bosco. Suddenly, the sun is shining again at Mater Dei High.